Near Point: A modest mountain with the best mud pit ever
Hey, Anchorageites: Near Point is a great after-work hike. The trek to the top is just long and steep enough for a satisfying challenge, but reasonable enough that most steady hikers can tackle it in a long afternoon (or a short afternoon, for you speed demons!).
And yes, you get extra difficulty points for dealing with a massive mud pit that lurks partway up the mountain. How did it get there? Why does it stay? I don’t know, but it would love to eat your shoes.
This is hike 23 in 50 Hikes Around Anchorage.
| Distance: 8 miles round-trip | Nearest community: Anchorage |
| Elevation gain: 2,160 feet | Typical season: June to October |
| Parking fee: $5 or Alaska State Parks parking pass | Nearby trails: Wolverine Peak, Middle Fork Loop, Powerline Pass, South Fork Rim, Little O’Malley, Big O’Malley, Williwaw Lakes, Hidden Lake, Flattop (front side) |
Near Point Trailhead Directions
From Anchorage, drive south on the New Seward Highway. Exit for O’Malley Road and turn east (left); stay on O’Malley until it makes a sweeping turn to the left and becomes Hillside Drive. Immediately after that sweeping hook to the left, turn right onto Upper O’Malley Road. Continue for 0.5 mile, then turn left onto Prospect Drive and stay on this road for another mile through a couple of name changes. The trailhead will be on your right.
About That Mud Pit
Near Point is an easy-access mountain, but that isn’t its most distinguishing feature. No… that award goes to the massive field of mud that sits perched on its slopes. You can hike around the mud pit, but it’s really easy to miss the turnoff. And honestly, there’s something satisfying about resigning yourself to your fate, donning some waterproof boots, and splashing around in the mud like a kid.
There’s a funny thing about eroded areas like mud pits, though: If you run around on their very edges, those edges crumble and the erosion/mud/whatever expands. So it’s best to fully commit one way or the other: Either you’re going straight through the mud (which sometimes has a few planks and other pieces to serve as makeshift boardwalks), or you’re going around. Brace yourself: There is no in-between option.
Hiking Near Point
From the Prospect Heights trailhead, take the obvious access trail and turn left on the marked Powerline Pass trail, which winds along the hillside through brushy forest. Cross Campbell Creek on a sturdy bridge and continue straight ahead at a couple of intersections, following signs for Near Point or, if that option isn’t available, Wolverine Bowl trail.
At just shy of 2 miles from the trailhead you’ll cross another bridge over a fork of Campbell Creek, then enter a four-way intersection. Continue straight, still following signs for Near Point; do not turn left toward Basher Trailhead.
The fork to avoid the mud pit comes about 2.6 miles from the trailhead; the only real markers are an unusually large rock and an unusually large spruce tree, both right next to the trail. If you hit the unmistakeable mud pit you’ll know you missed the turn.
The two trails come together on the far side of the mud pit, and both branches take you through a couple stretches of grass that, by late summer, can grow to at least chest high. Don’t tell anyone I told you, but you’ll often find a variety of berries on the mountain’s shoulders, too — if somebody hasn’t already been by to pick and/or eat them all.
Look Behind You!
All that grass means it’s relatively easy to lose the place where you enter brushline on the way back down, and a couple of social trails in the area (neighborhood access points) make things a little more confusing. Take a minute and look back a few times as you ascend out of the brush.
Photos of the Near Point Hike
Just for fun, here are pictures from the summit of Near Point — taken almost 20 years apart — plus a pretty typical view of the trail leading up the lower flanks of the mountain. (That’s not the sepia tone of age in the older picture — it was a dry spring!)
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Lisa Maloney
A long-time Alaskan, Lisa has written three award-winning guidebooks including "Day Hiking Southcentral Alaska" and "50 Hikes Around Anchorage." She also served as senior editor of Alaska magazine and has written hundreds of newspaper columns and magazine articles about her adventures around the state. Learn more about her at http://maloneywrites.com.
